The Irish standard., 1887-01-15
GREAT IRISH ACTOR. !!

In tie Olden Days Of the British
81 Stage David 3arrick' S ss.5S i,
y, " s5s SS I. Jealousy. 4 Ii 4. 55S
CONC CERN|N||G ||; The PRIVATE ( LIFE5 i:
OfJohn Hende Little yis Known, but.
That He Was a Great Actor lis .
Universally AcknoWled dgsd. .8ss /
5] 1.-THE only one Of sKemble7 s ,conten1-: Z:
poraries, says Sir Walter Scott in his.
life of Ohm Philip Kemble, s. worthy to,
benamed as competitor, is Henderson
the excellence Of his FalstaH, which
we remember as ajWonderful exhibition,
making all his parts relish Of sacksandl n
sugar OF the private life Of John
Henderson little is known; his bio,
grapher ireland" IA London watch
maker and All in ntimate friend of Hen
.derson), has given us a very few details,
but has lett us a highly eulogistic treat
ise on, his acting. From contemporary
actors, however, and from nearly all
writer's Of. dramatic biography, we
learn, the Dublin Nation observes, that
his excellence was universally ackno
lodged, and he is placed by them in the
very first rank Of players. He seems 1' to
have sprung into public fayora.iilm[tlm1[let- il nm g
diately on bis appearance; in II London,
where he played at the Ha.ynarket s.
Theatre as Shylock, on the 18th OF June,
1777. 4Macklin, who was no5 distin-
guished for arbanity, was resent 1l + (: on q
the occasion, and Eeartily congI atll-
lated Henderson on the performance.
Ct happened that Hend dezz:son mentioned
that he never saw Alacklin in the char
sacter. Macklin replied: Itis not ne
cessary to tell me that, sir. | knew you
had8not, OF you would have played it
e,itferently.N Ludicrous limitations Of
brother actors appear to have come into
fashion with Garrick. It seems strange
shat such man should descend to con-
duct calculated to lower .5ss' ss'
THE DIGNITY OF "A GREAT Art,
but he persisted in it till Henderson
and others retaliated, aud dsgave him to
the public in the same mann5srE$ i StoI: ;-
WtiiiCh aGtioh ineo
enough to be highly offended. AS q
reader and elocutionist Hend sonswas
unrivalied. His reading Of John Gill
PIN is described as marvellous, land ls
in pathetic pieces, such as the ''Story
of lie Fevre,'' he was equally success
full. 1she great feature in the acting Of
this period was its intensity. The
actors were devoted 4 to- their
art, which they studied with in
tense and ceaseless diligence.
Sir Walter Scott relates that John
Philip Kembla wrote out the part Of
Hamlet thirty times, and each time dis
covered something new in it, Also
in his life Of Kemble, in illustration OF
the pains taken by French actors to
attain perfection, Scott relates that
ss.Kemble being behind the scenes at
the Comedie Francais yalongWith Talma,
he observed an individual coming his
part with great attention, rehearsing il
with different tones and actions, and
in short, 50 sedulous in his rehearsal,
that it seemed he had some most i'm
portant part to perform. Being greatly
struck with the actors assiduity, he
inquired what weighty character this
hard student was to represent. Talma
informed him that he had only to say
Ave words: marianne the coach is
ready.''' Mrs. Siddons (another mem-
ber Of the great Kemble family, Of
whom Scott says g that she seemed
gifted with supernatural powers was
likewise @
EXCEEDINGLY INDUSTRIOUS.
The same authority gave as his opinion
'sthat those who had the good fortune
to see Kemble and Mrs. Siddons in
Macbeth and his Lady, may be satisfied
they have witnessed the highest per-
lection of Gramatic art; there cannot
have been, and we fear. never will be,
anything to compare with it." That
the histrionic powers Of Henderson
were held in high esteem NAV be learned
from statement in ''W. Clarke Rus;
sells Representative Actors" ]" When
Kemble played ''Sir Giles OverTeach, !" 4
be was SO anxious to represent the part
as Henderson had played it, that he
wrote to Mrs. Inchbald, who had acted
as Lady Allworth to Henderson's Sir
Giles, to know wv hat kind Of a hat
does Mr.. Henderson Wears What kind
sof wig, Of. cravat, ruffles, ,of clothes, Of
stockings, with or without en1broid dered
cloaks, square 81 round -toed shoes? I
shall be uneasy il e have not an idea of
his dress. even to the shape Of his
buckles, and what rings he wears son on
his hands. Moro oseness and cruelty seem
the groundwork Of this monstrous fig
5ure;; but I am at a loss to know Whet ether
5i,ls in copying it i should draw the lines
sthaf s seYnrps ss his cOlrta Il ITO Lord Low